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Body mass estimates of the earliest possible hominins and implications for the last common ancestor.
Grabowski, Mark; Hatala, Kevin G; Jungers, William L.
Afiliación
  • Grabowski M; Paleoanthropology, Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (HEP), Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72070, Germany; Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, 10024, USA; Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway; Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
  • Hatala KG; Department of Biology, Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA; Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
  • Jungers WL; Association Vahatra, BP 3972, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar; Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
J Hum Evol ; 122: 84-92, 2018 09.
Article en En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29910044
ABSTRACT
Many hypotheses regarding the paleobiology of the earliest possible hominins, Orrorin tugenensis and Ardipithecus ramidus, are dependent upon accurate body mass estimates for these taxa. While we have previously published body mass predictions for Orrorin and Ardipithecus, the accuracies of those estimates depend on the assumption that the postcranial skeletal dimensions and body masses of these taxa followed scaling patterns that were similar to those observed in modern humans. This assumption may not be correct because certain aspects of postcranial morphology in Orrorin and Ardipithecus differ from modern humans, and suggest that their overall body plans might be unique but more similar to modern non-human great apes than to modern humans. Here we present individual body mass predictions for O. tugenensis and Ar. ramidus assuming that they followed postcranial scaling patterns similar to those of chimpanzees. All estimates include individual prediction intervals as measures of uncertainty. In addition, we provide equations for predicting body mass from univariate postcranial measurements based on the largest sample (n = 25) yet compiled of common chimpanzee skeletons with known body masses, which is vital for calculating prediction intervals for individual fossils. Our results show that estimated body masses in Orrorin and Ardipithecus are generally larger when derived from a chimpanzee-like scaling pattern compared to estimates that assume a human-like pattern, though the prediction intervals of the two sets of estimates overlap. In addition, the more complete of the two known Orrorin femora has an overall scaling pattern that is more similar to common chimpanzees than to modern humans, supporting the application of a non-human great ape comparative model. Our new estimates fall near the male (Ardipithecus) average and in between the male and female averages (Orrorin) for wild-caught common chimpanzees. If a chimpanzee-like pattern of scaling between postcranial dimensions and body mass did exist in these earliest hominins, our results suggest the large body masses found in some early australopiths were already present in taxa near the origins of our lineage, and perhaps also in the Pan-Homo last common ancestor.
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Texto completo: 1 Colección: 01-internacional Base de datos: MEDLINE Asunto principal: Peso Corporal / Hominidae / Evolución Biológica Tipo de estudio: Prognostic_studies Límite: Animals Idioma: En Revista: J Hum Evol Año: 2018 Tipo del documento: Article País de afiliación: Estados Unidos

Texto completo: 1 Colección: 01-internacional Base de datos: MEDLINE Asunto principal: Peso Corporal / Hominidae / Evolución Biológica Tipo de estudio: Prognostic_studies Límite: Animals Idioma: En Revista: J Hum Evol Año: 2018 Tipo del documento: Article País de afiliación: Estados Unidos
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